What is the Pune pitch, deep down?

In first-class cricket, it's one of the flattest in the country. Thirty-six Indian grounds have hosted at least 10 first-class games since the start of the 2011-12 season, when the MCA Stadium made its debut. Of those 36 grounds, only two have a higher runs-per-wickets figure than Pune's 35.82.

In 26 first-class games here, there have been ten individual scores of 150 or more, two triple-hundreds and three other doubles. Thirteen of the 26 games have ended in draws.

ODIs here have largely been high-scoring too, with three out of four matches producing first-innings totals of above 280.

"When the covers came off, it wasn't a straightforward task to distinguish the pitch from the square surrounding it. It was green, and uniformly so. But soon enough, the groundstaff began taking grass off"

When a ground hosts a Test match, however, it can change character dramatically. Pune's debut Test, in 2017, ended in less than three days, with India scoring 105 and 107 and the pitch ending up with a "poor" rating.

Two days before Pune's second Test, therefore, everyone wanted to talk to Pandurang Salgaoncar, the curator. But Salgaoncar wouldn't talk to anyone.

Salgaoncar has endured a difficult couple of years. There was the "poor" rating for the Test against Australia, to start with, and later that year even greater controversy arising from his getting trapped in a sting operation, which led to his being suspended for six months by both his home association and the ICC.

Two days from the start of India's second Test against South Africa, Salgaoncar's primary worries were to do with the weather. Rain has lashed Pune incessantly in the weeks leading up to the game, and this has, no doubt, complicated preparations for the game.

Tuesday afternoon was dry, though, and the heat oppressive. Out in the middle, the groundstaff were hard at work under Salgaoncar's supervision, with India coach Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Bharat Arun keeping a close eye.

It wasn't clear whether Shastri and Arun were merely watching the preparations or also passing on instructions. Arun, only half an hour earlier, had said this at his press conference:

"We don't ask for the kind of wickets that we get. To us, to be a good No. 1 team in the world, any conditions that come your way, you've got to accept and say these are home conditions. Even when we go abroad, we hardly take a look at the wicket. Yes, in the last minute we tend to assess the wicket by looking at it, but we say that we are going to look at this as home conditions, and the wicket is the same for both the teams, so we are going to work on our bowling, rather than looking at the wickets."

When the covers came off, it wasn't a straightforward task to distinguish the pitch from the square surrounding it. It was green, and uniformly so. But soon enough, the groundstaff began taking grass off the pitch, with the means of stiff brushes and then a mower.

It remains to be seen how much of the grass survives by the time Test starts on Thursday. But given how the weather has been in the run-up to the game, the pitch is unlikely to be as dry as the one in 2017, which became what it became thanks partly to the 37-degree weather that had preceded the Test match, and partly to the reduced watering it was deliberately subject to.

Riyaz Bagwan, the secretary of the Maharashtra Cricket Association, refused to get into any detail over the effect of the weather on pitch preparations, but he was confident that the ground's drainage would help reduce the length of any rain interruptions. He estimated that the sand-based outfield would take less than half-an-hour to be ready to play on again.

In the weeks leading up to the game, Bagwan said Maharashtra's players had played a few practice one-day matches at the venue, and that these had begun on time - "9.30 sharp" - even if there had been overnight rain.

Much like the pitch, the weather in Pune can change dramatically in the space of a day. The blazing afternoon quickly gave way to dark clouds, and a short, sharp shower arrived at around 4pm. Rain was forecast for all five days of the first Test in Visakhapatnam, but it kept away for all but one session of play. With a similar forecast for Pune as well, here's hoping for similar cooperation from upstairs.

Big Picture

Yes, even the first-string Sri Lanka had lost their four most-recent T20I series, and sure Pakistan topped the rankings, but there are no two sides that revel quite as much in chaos as these two, so in some ways, a comfortable series victory to the underdogs is not a huge surprise.

The two matches so far have followed a remarkably similar script. Sri Lanka have got a half-century and a big partnership from their top three, then a strong finish. Their quicks have then struck early blows, and despite the occasional good partnership from Pakistan, Sri Lanka have managed to keep the required rate climbing through the middle overs. In the first match, Pakistan's last seven wickets fell for 33. In the second, their last five went down for 20.

The two players catching the most heat so far have been Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad, who have produced four awful innings between them. Akmal's successive golden ducks have basically been an invitation for a punchline. Shehzad has arguably been even worse, chewing up 25 Powerplay deliveries for his 17 runs across the two games. Babar Azam's rare failures haven't helped either, nor has the fitful form of the rest of the middle order.

A whitewash will be a coup for Sri Lanka, and a significant early obstacle for the new lord commander of Pakistan cricket, Misbah-ul-Haq. Of the issues the hosts must sort, the top-order problems seem the most pressing.

Form guide

Pakistan LLLWL (completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka WWWLL

In the spotlight

Part of Pakistan's good T20I form in 2018 had been down to the bowlers, and Mohammad Amir had as good a year as anyone, going at 6.57 in nine appearances last year, taking 14 wickets at 15.50. He had not gone wicketless in eight previous T20Is before this series but has now failed to take a wicket through the first two matches in Lahore. With a confident opposition top three to contend with, Pakistan need their quicks to fire in the last match.

In all four of Sri Lanka's innings on tour, Dasun Shanaka has played good knocks befitting the situation, finding late boundaries when Sri Lanka are looking to finish fast, and rebuilding when they have lost early wickets. He had been disappointed to miss out on a World Cup spot but has perhaps now done enough to firm up a place in the first-choice XI in both limited-overs formats.

Team news

Iftikhar Ahmed may come in for the run-less Akmal. Perhaps Pakistan will also consider Haris Sohail instead of Shehzad.

Pakistan (possible): 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Babar Azam, 3 Ahmed Shehza, 4 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt, wk), 5 Iftikhar Ahmed, 6 Asif Ali, 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Mohammad Hasnain

Although ordinarily a team might be tempted to trial inexperienced players once a series has been sewn up, a whitewash will mean a lot to this Sri Lanka team, and they are unlikely to change their side.

Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Danushka Gunathilaka, 2 Avishka Fernando, 3 Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 4 Shehan Jayasuriya, 5 Minod Bhanuka (wk), 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Isuru Udana, 9 Lakshan Sandakan, 10 Kasun Rajitha, 11 Nuwan Pradeep

Pitch and conditions

There has been a little dew around in Lahore, but not so much that it has had a substantial effect on the game. The pitch is expected to be decent for batting again.

Stats and trivia

• Amir's 0 for 40 on Monday were his worst figures since the 2016 T20 World Cup.

• Seven members of Sri Lanka's XI had played fewer than ten T20s at the start of the series.

• Sri Lanka have never won a T20I series 3-0.

• Pakistan have never been whitewashed 3-0 in T20Is either.

Russell Westbrook tallied 13 points in 21 minutes in his first game action as a member of the Houston Rockets, a 134-129 loss to the Toronto Raptors in Tokyo.

"It wasn't bad," said Westbrook, the longtime Oklahoma City star and former MVP now in his first season with Houston. "Unfortunately, we didn't win. That's the main goal. But it was good to get on the floor for the first time, get up and down, try to find a rhythm. We've got a lot of work to do."

Westbrook has reunited with former Thunder teammate James Harden, who poured in 34 points in 27 minutes.

Harden made his first six shots and finished 11-for-14 from the field. His final points were a pair of free throws with 3:40 left in the third quarter that put Houston up 104-87. He checked out shortly afterward, and Toronto outscored Houston 47-25 the rest of the way to rally for the win.

"It was amazing," Harden said of the Tokyo crowd. "They got an opportunity to see what NBA basketball is about, what Rockets basketball is about. They brought the energy tonight. They were excited from the beginning of the game. They made us want to go out there and put on a show, so hopefully it can be that same kind of atmosphere on Thursday."

The exhibition game at the Saitama Super Arena, a site for basketball at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was the NBA's first in Japan since 2003. The Rockets and Raptors return there to conclude the two-game series Thursday.

Raptors coach Nick Nurse said he liked the arena and felt energy from the Japanese fans.

"We get 'Let's go Raptors' in a lot of cities," Nurse said. "It's nice to see it in Tokyo as well. Lot of Raptors fans around the world. It's great."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

IT WAS SUPPOSED to be a quiet summer night for Anthony Davis.

With the rumor mill churning, he sought refuge with Keanu Reeves -- just another anonymous moviegoer watching bad guys get pistol-whipped in "John Wick: Chapter 3 -- Parabellum."

As the film came to an end, Davis closed out his check. (It was one of those luxury cinemas where orders are brought right to your seat.) In the dark of the theater, he slid his credit card back into his wallet and his wallet back into his bag.

The next morning, Davis left his home near Thousand Oaks, California, and stopped at a gas station. Standing at the pump to pay, he felt like he'd just taken a John Wick roundhouse kick to the stomach: He didn't have his wallet.

"It must be at the movies," Davis thought. So he called the theater and asked to speak to the manager.

"No, no, your wallet's not here," he was told.

Undeterred, Davis and a couple of friends drove to the theater, trying to retrace his steps. Again, they asked if a wallet had turned up. It had not.

They searched the theater, in and around his seat. No dice.

He called the next day. No wallet.

He called the day after that. Still no wallet.

Another day passed, and Davis returned to the theater, this time to see the Seth Rogen-Charlize Theron comedy "Long Shot." He wasn't optimistic but asked about the wallet one last time. They didn't have it.

Gone were both his Illinois state ID and driver's license. He arranged for a new medical insurance card and contacted credit card companies to issue new sets of plastic. And then came the issue of the actual wallet itself. Davis figured he'd never see the black and blue Goyard wallet again. In its place, he picked up an all-black Louis Vuitton pocket-sized valise to complete the swap.

This was not what Davis had in mind when he went to the theater for a reprieve. Then again, things hadn't exactly gone according to plan since a January trade request went public and submarined his season.

IN MID-APRIL, when the New Orleans Pelicans retooled their front office, hiring former Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin as their executive vice president of basketball operations, Griffin inherited a quandary: whether to honor a preexisting trade request by Davis or attempt to mend fences as a fresh voice and risk the next season devolving into a high-stakes standoff.

The rub was two-fold: One obstacle, sources told ESPN, was Pelicans owner Gayle Benson's sour feelings toward L.A. -- a lingering disdain over how Davis' final season with the franchise had been compromised by AD's initial request.

"Clearly the process began at the trade deadline," Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka says. "But I think it's no mystery that there wasn't engagement in them wanting to do a trade at that time. I think that's just sort of fact."

The second problem? Despite all of that, the Lakers were their most viable -- if not their only -- option.

"When I took over, there was some latent discontent, maybe with the way things had been handled," Griffin says. "We just talked about the fact that, look, in all likelihood the best package is going to come from this team, because it's the only team that AD's willing to stay at."

Acting on behalf of his client, Rich Paul had all but made the decision for the Pelicans. He signaled to any other interested trade partners -- i.e. the Boston Celtics, who sources say coveted the big man for years -- that Davis would walk as a free agent in the summer of 2020 if they dealt for him.

"The last thing you want to do is put a GM in a situation where he trades away an asset and then the guy walks out the door," Paul says. "Like, you can't do business that way. So, it's not really a hard conversation to have.

"And I don't think it stopped Danny Ainge from trying. It's just that maybe he didn't have the deal [he wanted]. He wasn't willing to give up the young players, which I don't blame him. I wouldn't give them up either, if the guy is not going to re-sign back."

Griffin, who acknowledges his preexisting relationship with Paul was likely a benefit when he was selected to replace Dell Demps, couldn't help but admire the agent's moxie.

"Rich had done such an effective job of smoking out all of the competition for the Lakers, that we were left with the sense that the best deal is going to very likely come from them. And if we can get X-Y-Z, we have to execute the deal," Griffin recalls.

But if the Pelicans were going to part with AD, it wouldn't be for just X-Y-Z. They wanted the whole alphabet.

And on May 14, they'd get their chance.

The results of the Draft Lottery helped grease the wheels for renewed trade conversations, league sources told ESPN. The Lakers walked away with the No. 4 pick, despite having just a 9.4% chance of doing so; the Pelicans, bucking mere 6% odds, landed the No. 1 pick and first dibs at Duke's Zion Williamson.

"[Davis] wanted to go to two places: New York or L.A," Paul reflects. "After the Draft [Lottery], I was able to see where everything lies. The fact that [the Pelicans] were going to get the first pick caused me to understand, it softened the blow of losing Anthony Davis because the organization could still have some momentum.

"Now, where he would go was up to who was going to step up and give the best offer."

"Major NBA trades live on the edge of a dime. I think, maybe the everyday fan doesn't know how the fulcrum is so razor thin."

Lakers GM Rob Pelinka

The Lakers parted with the No. 4 pick, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart as well as a 2021 first-rounder protected Nos. 9-30 (which becomes unprotected in 2022), first-round swap rights in 2023 and a 2024 first-round pick with the option to defer to 2025.

"Throughout the whole time we were trying to gauge the value of the fourth pick," Griffin says.

Many pundits viewed a steep drop off following the top three prospects in Williamson, Ja Morant and RJ Barrett. Unless there was a team that viewed another player worthy of that group, the fourth pick really wasn't all that more valuable than, say, the 10th pick -- only more expensive because of the cascading rookie salaries structure.

Playing out the hypothetical trade opportunities that could exist if the Pelicans did the deal with the Lakers, Griffin eventually found interest from the Atlanta Hawks, who ended up sending New Orleans the No. 8, No. 17 and No. 35 picks in the 2019 draft and a heavily protected 2020 first rounder for No. 4 so the Hawks could take De'Andre Hunter out of Virginia.

"Major NBA trades live on the edge of a dime. I think, maybe the everyday fan doesn't know how the fulcrum is so razor thin, and something's close to being done and then it's far from being done and then you think you have it done and you start over," Pelinka says.

"The day that it was completed, I remember there were a number of hurdles that seemed insurmountable that came up where we thought this just is never going to happen."

Griffin, who had parted ways with the Cavs just days before Kyrie Irving requested a trade out of Cleveland, had ruminated for some time on how he would have handled that situation. Now that he was in the driver's seat with Davis, he was intent on leveraging a killer deal.

"Literally the day that the trade happened," Pelinka says, "there were a couple points I was convinced that there would be no further conversations."

But the Lakers were too invested to walk away. They owed it, Pelinka thought, to LeBron James.

"When a player of LeBron's stature puts his trust in the organization," Pelinka says, "I think there's an implicit bilateral trust going back saying: 'We're going to do everything we can to put you in a position to win more championships, because that's what you're about.'"

BACK IN 2015, NBA journeyman center Kendrick Perkins had landed in New Orleans, where he would play one season alongside Davis on the Pelicans. On the road, the two would frequently break bread together, and their dinner conversations would often turn toward James, whom Perkins had played with on the AAU circuit as teenagers. They were also teammates in Cleveland during James' second stint with the Cavs. During those dinners, Perkins would gush about the four-time MVP's focus and preparation.

"I used to brag about 'Bron a lot with him," Perkins says. "He really didn't have to ask me [about James]. I was doing more of the talking."

In the summer of 2018, when word got out that Davis could be looking for a new agent, it was Perkins who introduced Davis to Klutch Sports.

"I thought it was the best thing for AD," Perkins says. "I thought he needed to be around that type of greatness."

Paul saw the star beneath Davis' signature synophrys and knew there was much more for the power forward to accomplish in the league beyond one second-round postseason appearance.

"He's just as talented as anyone who's ever played this game," Paul says. "Six-11, makes 3s, blocks shots. I think he's one of the better passing big men in our game. In my opinion, this is what makes him different from Giannis [Antetokounmpo].

"Like, if you put Anthony Davis on that Bucks team last year, they'd be playing in the Finals. He knows how to make guys better. That's not a knock to Giannis, but that's just what [I think]."

After that fateful meeting manifested the three-team trade to form a new superstar duo, James and Davis shared a new dream of parlaying their duo into a trio. As free agency opened in July, Kawhi Leonard was indisputably the biggest free agent on the market.

The King and the Brow set their eyes on The Claw.

Davis says he spoke to Leonard over the phone once in the first five days of free agency. Hardly a fervent flirtation, but as much as he felt comfortable engaging in.

"I don't really know Kawhi like that -- I don't think no one really knows Kawhi like that. But obviously we were hopeful," Davis says. "I definitely thought that it was a possibility that we could get him. ... I'm not going to be a haggling guy. Especially when he came and said he didn't really like the media [attention] and people pressuring him.

"But I think there was a time where all of us felt like we were really, really close to getting Kawhi."

So close that Davis and James started envisioning what the Lakers would look like with arguably the biggest Big Three of all time roaming the court.

"I think it [has] always been about the Big Three," Davis says. "We were talking like, 'Man, we get Kawhi, man, this is what we can do. We can do it like this, this, this, this. ...'"

On July 6, though, Leonard made his announcement: The reigning Finals MVP would forsake the Toronto Raptors not for the Lakers, but for their Staples Center cohabitants, the LA Clippers. And Davis immediately flipped his mental switch.

"[I was] like, 'Wait, hold on,'" Davis recalls. "'We [still] got LeBron and Anthony Davis. Let's do it.'"

FROM THE MOMENT that Davis signed on with the Lakers, he found himself almost constantly engaged in player personnel decisions by his new GM. For Davis, who says he was consulted on major moves in New Orleans but never the minutiae, it took some getting used to.

"We were doing constant calls about, 'What do you think of this or this player?" he says. "Rob was almost like a stalking girlfriend. He was an agent, so he's played both sides. He knows that in order for stuff to work the players have to be involved. And he tried to make sure that LeBron and I were involved as much as possible. During free agency, every decision I got a text or a call, even just two minutes, 'Look, this is going on. ... How do you feel? OK, cool.'

"Every single decision. I [have] never been involved so much. No matter who the player was, he wanted to make sure. It was on everything. And it was like, 'Wow.' To the point where I was like, 'All right, Rob, stop calling me.'"

Pelinka, who says that treating "superstars like partners" is a mentality that front offices must adopt in the era of player empowerment, fully acknowledges that this is his approach. He estimates hundreds of three-way calls with James and Davis since the trade.

Such collaboration is enticing in the moment, but also a plausible avenue for escape later. Case in point: Magic Johnson was blamed as the architect of the Lakers' ill-conceived roster last season -- one that prioritized playmakers over shooters -- despite undoubted discussions at various points with others in the organization, including James, about the construction.

Still, being scrutinized is just part of the Laker experience, as Davis sees it. In fact, he says he relishes it.

"I think a lot of stuff that I did in New Orleans, people saw and heard about. But then again, people said, 'Well, it was New Orleans.' I think the big question is, 'All right, let's see what he can do on a big stage.' Obviously the playoffs are the playoffs, but, 'Let's see what he does on 35 [national] TV games now," Davis says.

"Nobody was really waking up [for a game] in New Orleans. Every game now is like, 'All right, if we beat the Lakers [we accomplished something].' [With the Pelicans] we could lose games and people were like, 'OK, well no one expected them to win this game,' or whatever. Now, every night you have to show up. If not, the next day, here comes your name through the tabloids."

It's a pressure the low-key Davis -- who admits that James already rides him for not watching enough game film on his downtime when he prefers to unwind with playing Madden -- says he embraces.

"I think having that for the first time is going to be fun," he says. "I'm looking forward to it. Just to show the world, like, 'All right, it wasn't a fluke for seven years in New Orleans.'"

WITH A WALL full of green cardboard pizza boxes folded up behind him and a vegetarian pie smothered in sheep cheese resting on the paper placemat in front of him, James basked in the warmth emanating from the open kitchen floor plan at Jon & Vinny's.

James had become a regular at the Brentwood, California, outpost of the trendy Italian restaurant. In fact, he ate at the spot so often the chef concocted the off-menu sheep cheese pizza to align with his dietary restrictions. With no entrée costing more than $26 and brown paper napkins complementing the white paper placemats on the tables, it was easy to feel comfortable.

But as low key as the setting might have been, it was a special occasion.

Seated with him at the wooden booth on this clear summer night was Davis, the latest in the Lakers' long line of star big men and perhaps the key piece to James enjoying success in the latter stages of his basketball career.

"It was the end of the dinner," Davis says. "He pulled out a card. He was like, 'My wife wanted me to give you this.' I was like, 'Why is Savannah giving me a card?'"

Davis tore open the envelope and began to read the inscription.

"'Welcome to L.A.' such and such and such, 'bro,'" Davis says, remembering the note. "I stopped reading. I said, 'Wait, Savannah doesn't even call me 'bro.'"

He scanned to the bottom of the card for the signature: King James #6.

"Then he pulls the jersey out."

From inside the to-go bag the waiter had brought over, James whipped out a gold Lakers jersey with No. 23 stitched on in purple numerals.

"He was like, 'This is yours.'"

Davis figured the gift to be one of James' own jerseys. That was until he turned the jersey around: across the shoulders, stitched just above the No. 23, was the name "Davis."

"He was like, 'I know you wanted 23,'" says Davis, who wore the number at both the University of Kentucky and all seven seasons in New Orleans. "For him to, in an instant, just say, 'Here. Here's 23. You can have it.' ... It was a cool moment."

It ended up being the ultimate "it's the thought that counts" gift. While league sources confirm the NBA would have bent the rules to allow for James to swap his jersey number without meeting the deadline to file the paperwork a year ahead of time, Nike intervened. The official uniform supplier for the league -- and a company that James and Davis both represent -- cited tens of millions of dollars in potentially wasted inventory of James No. 23 gear, according to sources.

The moment was ironic -- in a what-a-difference-a-decade-makes sort of way. Davis had first met James nine years prior and some 2,300 miles away as a camper at the LeBron James Skills Academy.

"For him to, in an instant, just say, 'Here. Here's 23. You can have it.' ... It was a cool moment."

Anthony Davis, on LeBron James offering his jersey number

Long before he would ascend to the No. 1 pick in the draft, Davis had folded a growing and near 7-foot frame into a Greyhound Bus for an 11-hour trek from Chicago to Akron. There at the camp the 17-year-old Davis watched "The Decision" TV special before James arrived at the gym later that week.

Davis donned a random camp-issued No. 44 jersey with "LeBron James" printed across the chest -- just another kid trying to stand out in a crowd of phenoms. When James arrived after announcing his intentions for South Beach, Davis was happy to just get a glimpse of him, dap him up, snap a photo. "It was just like, 'Man, this is LeBron,'" Davis recalls.

Now it was no longer Davis, the camper, hoping to meet James, the superstar. It was James, one of the greatest of all-time, hoping to impress Davis, the superstar. It was no longer James shifting the balance of power in the league by going from Cleveland to Miami. It was Davis turning the Lakers back into contenders by going from New Orleans to L.A.

"It was like," Davis says before trailing off. "It speaks about who he is and how bad he wanted me to be here."

A FEW WEEKS after the trade was consummated, Davis settled back into L.A. life. Wielding his new, fully stocked wallet, he returned to the same theater to see another film: the raunchy, laugh-out-loud "Good Boys." As the screen flickered with images, an attendant approached his seat.

"I'm like, 'Excuse me, may I help you?'" Davis says. "They were like, 'Our manager told us to let you know that we have your wallet.'"

He couldn't believe it. "I said, 'What?!' It just had to be because I'm a Laker now. I mean, they had my wallet the entire time."

The manager apologized profusely and tried to make it up to him. "She gave me a whole bunch of vouchers -- like 25 movies I can go see," Davis says.

He doubts he'll ever cash in on the free flicks, though. Now a part of the Lakers, Davis has moved 30 miles west of Thousand Oaks into a mansion in Bel Air.

He found his old wallet. He found his new team. He hopes to find the Larry O'Brien trophy in his hands in June.

"I really feel like we can win it."

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. -- The Houston Astros want us to know that it was just one game.

"We lost one game. Not the end of the world," Houston outfielder George Springer said. "We have to come out tomorrow and play hard. Play a little better, see what happens."

He's right. It was just one MLB playoff game. The Astros lost 10-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday but still own a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five ALDS matchup. They play again on Tuesday, which wasn't exactly what the Astros wanted, but if they win, it's all good. They will head into the next round -- against the New York Yankees, it appears -- positioned to line up their Cy Young candidates for multiple outings.

Still, even for the most dominant of teams (and the Astros surely are one), if you're going to end up as the last team standing, you're going to have to pass a few tests. The Astros are facing their first. To pass it, they are going to ask Justin Verlander to do something he has never done before.

We know the setup for Game 3. After the Rays' offense was throttled by Houston co-aces Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole in the first two games, future Hall of Famer Zack Greinke was lined up to close it out. Pity, pity the poor, small-market Rays and their poor, small-market, domed ballpark that no one wants to go to.

Funny thing, though. Lots of people did want to go, and lots of them did. Tarps that had covered upper-deck seats all season were lifted, and human beings filled the folding chairs beneath. They were clad in whatever shades of marine blue the Rays wear and were waving yellow towels and doing the wave and just generally being very loud.

Greinke, the future Hall of Famer, the third of three Houston stud starters, only fueled the Florida furor.

"I thought that the crowd was outstanding," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "We saw what the Houston fans did for that club. Feel like ours just did it for ours."

At the outset, it looked like Games 1 and 2 redux. Jose Altuve took former teammate Charlie Morton deep, and the Rays' savior, whom everybody said they wanted on the mound, wriggled and twisted his way through his first two frames, needing 53 pitches to do it. He held his Astro buddies to Altuve's solo blast, but it looked like it might be a short afternoon.

Meanwhile, Greinke looked sharp while cruising through a three-up, three-down first, needing just nine pitches and striking out two. Up in the press box, you could sense national writers eyeing their travel apps: What flights are available from Houston to New York next week?

We should have known better. This is the postseason, and everything can bend on a dime, like a Bert Blyleven curveball.

With two outs in the second, Greinke hit Travis d'Arnaud with the pitch. There were two runners on base. Kevin Kiermaier stepped to the plate. On a Rays team for which attrition is a way of life, Kiermaier is something of a franchise stalwart -- the north star to guide the current generation of Rays fandom. He got the loudest cheers during pregame introductions.

Kiermaier waited out a Greinke changeup that floated middle-middle and launched it to right-center for a three-run homer. That snapped a stretch of 16⅓ scoreless innings for the Rays against the Houston starters to begin the series. It flipped a 1-0 deficit to a 3-1 lead. It raised the Trop volume level to 11. In short, it changed everything. Two more bombs off Greinke followed in the innings to come, then a fourth homer came off reliever Wade Miley. The dam had broken open.

"Even after my homer, you saw [Ji-Man Choi], Willy [Adames], Brandon Lowe, that's kind of how it's been the whole season," Kiermaier said. "We're a team where we can come back too. But when we get ahead early, that's when we're our most dangerous."

The Astros were never really part of the game after Kiermaier's blast. That was mostly because Greinke couldn't overcome his struggles, and Morton did. Morton went only five innings and 93 pitches, but the Rays were up 8-1, so there wasn't a great reason to push for a sixth frame. Now, if the series goes five games, you could easily see Morton return for a couple of innings in a possible Game 5.

As for Greinke, he was chased after giving up six runs and three homers and throwing just 3⅔ innings. It made his spotty postseason record even spottier: His career playoff ERA bloated to 4.58 in 12 outings.

"He didn't execute particular pitches," Astros manager AJ Hinch said. "Then when he didn't, they did incredible damage. So it wasn't like, other than [Avisail] Garcia and d'Arnaud, they didn't really get singles. They hit homers, and they did a good job of doing a ton of damage when they got a hit."

In what seemed like a minor subplot in this series, Hinch had been tight-lipped about his plans for a Game 4 starter. The two leading candidates seemed to be the veteran Miley, who started fast this season and then faded badly down the stretch, and hard-throwing rookie Jose Urquidy, who has been inconsistent but has shown the potential for dominance. Still, as the specter of a possible Game 4 became a concern, the chatter turned to Verlander.

Verlander has done it all before. Except this. He will be pitching on three days' rest, and you might think that has happened somewhere along the line, but it hasn't. Verlander threw on short rest during a 2011 ALDS series, but that was after his initial outing was snipped after one inning because of rain. In the 2017 ALDS against Boston, he started Game 1, had three days' rest, then threw 2⅔ innings of relief in Game 4. But he has never started a game on three days' rest after a full-blown start in his previous outing.

"I haven't [done it]," Verlander said. "Closest we came was out of the bullpen a couple years ago in Boston. The thought process is five-game series are pretty crazy, and we've got to win. Never know what can happen. You can't put all your eggs in one basket and say, 'If we lose tomorrow, we've got Justin and Gerrit in Game 5.' It's a crazy game.

"The last couple days, I've felt pretty good. AJ and I have been discussing it. He made the call."

The Astros have been understandably lauded as a near-perfect team after a season in which they won 107 games, outscored opponents by 280 runs and added Greinke, a former Cy Young winner still producing at an elite level, to be a midrotation starter. Sure, the back of the rotation looked thin after a season-ending injury to Aaron Sanchez and Miley's struggles, but that was a minor concern if Houston's trio of aces aced their way through October. Verlander and Cole did, at least in their initial appearances. Greinke did not.

When asked what he might have done differently during his outing, Greinke told reporters, "Yeah, not throw changeups down the middle."

Greinke's say-nothing act has its charms, but it would be nice to for him to let us all see that he cares. Because we know he does -- his teammates of the years have always communicated that much about him. But in any event, it was a day when Houston fans had to be asking, what if? What if the team had been a little more aggressive in trying to re-up with Morton last winter? What if trading for the more expensive Greinke had never been necessary?

It is not that simple, obviously. Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow flat-out stated that he wanted to keep Morton. Everyone in Houston loves him ... still. But Morton has a home in Bradenton, Florida, and he wanted to be closer to home in a good baseball situation. Maybe if the Astros had topped the Rays' offer it could have been different, but we'll never know. It was the happy kind of baseball scenario in which multiple parties were acting from a respective unfettered position of free will. Morton, for his part, has already become a franchise face for the Rays, a team for which he has played only one season, and he believes in his new squad.

"The numbers speak for themselves," Morton said. "You'd be hard-pressed to not argue that we're the top-three staff in all of baseball, top to bottom. It's just, we're a great pitching staff, and we're pretty flexible too. These series we have -- five-game series, seven-game series -- I think we're well built to adjust, given any scenario."

Greinke is a great pitcher and will continue to be a great pitcher. His 2019 season, compared to that of Morton, was largely about the same. But the Astros have Greinke's postseason problems to stew over now. And we know that Morton does not carry that stigma. He closed out the Astros' 2017 World Series. He won his fourth career elimination game on Monday, tying the record that Verlander shares and can break in Game 4. Morton is a big-game pitcher, a proven one, and the comfort the Rays felt having him on the mound in Game 3 could have been the Astros' sense of security instead.

This is the worst kind of hindsight. Greinke's dud might have landed Verlander in an unfamiliar place, but he's Justin Verlander. He must conquer a new frontier, but who can doubt that he will conquer it? And if the Rays steal another game, there's still the matter of beating a rested Gerrit Cole in Game 5.

The Astros are facing their first test of what they hope will be a championship run on Tuesday. But it's a two-parter. The first part is dispatching a young, talented Rays team that just got a huge adrenaline shot to its confidence. The second can't be answered until the next round. That's when Greinke will start again, likely against the Yankees, and he will be graded on whether or not the Astros win his outing.

"Charlie showed all of the Astros what he can do, and I think there's no surprise," Verlander said of his former rotation mate. "He's been tremendous in some games when it's all on the line, and so I don't think anybody was surprised that he came out with great stuff today and picked those guys up."

On Tuesday, it'll be Verlander's turn to do the same -- for the Astros. If he does, then we move to the ALCS, and the baton passes to Cole, then back to Verlander. After that, then and only then, when Greinke takes the mound, will we learn if the Astros can pass a test for which there are only two outcomes: pass and fail.

A hop, a burst of pace, a hint of a dummy, a step inside, another jag, a 40-metre canter under the posts - the ball clutched in one hand and four would-be tacklers choking on fumes having got nowhere near it.

Joe Cokanasiga has scored tries in front of capacity Twickenham crowds. He scored another two in England's 45-7 World Cup win over the United States in Kobe.

He has 12 back home in the Premiership.

But the score that still defines him most came as a teenager on a chilly October afternoon in front of a single stand and a just couple of thousand people.

Topsy Ojo had a front-row seat. The wing had been left out of the London Irish XV to give Cokanasiga his Championship debut against London Scottish in 2016.

"The reaction on the bench was shock and awe," he tells BBC Sport, remembering Cokanasiga's stunning solo effort.

"The position that he got the ball in initially - inside his 22m - you would conventionally think he should clear it, but that is not really in his mentality.

"His skillset is to run and beat people. He just took off and 10 seconds later he was under the sticks

"I remember we all looked at each other, jaws open, like 'wow, that was special'."

Video of the try spread quickly online. Only the most attentive viewers would spot the little finger-point salute that Cokanasiga makes to the crowd as he goes over though.

"I'm claiming that!" says Phil Cokanasiga, Joe's younger brother, London Irish prospect and England Under-18 international. "I was stood next to the camera, but I know he was pointing at me."

For much of his life Phil had seen Joe, three years his senior, tearing up pitches and opposition defences.

"I remember roughly 2008 or 2009, when I was seven or eight, we were playing for our school in Germany in a tag rugby tournament," Phil remembers.

"We were both playing a year up and I went over to watch him after I had finished my game. He was all speed, he couldn't run over people obviously, and he was pretty good even then."

Germany was just one stop in the pair's globe-trotting childhood. Their next was Brunei, the tiny oil-rich state perched on the island of Borneo in the South China Sea, as they followed their father Ilaitia's deployments as part of the British Army's Royal Logistic Corps.

It was there Joe started to turn his concentration from football - where he was a commanding centre-back - to rugby.

Stronger, bigger and faster than his teenage peers, he was fast-tracked from Brunei's schoolboy rugby to the adult game, playing alongside his father for club side Bandar Blacks.

Brunei's teenagers may have been spared the sight of Joe thundering at them with ball in hand, but Phil was not.

The pair would play rugby together in the garden, recreating the Super Rugby moments that they would see on satellite television.

Phil would mimic the Waratahs' Israel Folau. Joe preferred the Hurricanes' Julian Savea. The only glimpses the pair would get of English rugby in Brunei were viral clips of big hits and fisticuffs. The pair were grimly fascinated by Manu Tuilagi and Chris Ashton's memorable punch-up in May 2011.

Four years later and it was a 17-year-old Joe Cokanasiga, back in England and signed up to the London Irish academy, rather than Tuilagi or Ashton, making an appearance at the 2015 World Cup, albeit in a low-profile cameo.

Cokanasiga was part of a Fijian dance troupe who performed on the pitch before Stuart Lancaster's side's opener against the Islanders, posing for photographs with fans who were unaware that a future England star was in their midst.

Joe may have left Fiji as a three-year-old, but Ilaitia makes sure both his sons remember that heritage.

"Dad always reminds Joe that when he represents England, he is also a Fijian and not to forget his roots," says Phil.

"He told us to back ourselves because we are very different to most players.

"A big thing was confidence and to always think that - I know that it sounds big-headed - we are the best on the field, because it brings out the best in us."

Touchline fathers always tend to think their sons are the best.

It is something when the players who had to compete against that same offspring for a starting spot agree.

Ojo has played almost 200 top-flight games as well as lining up opposite All Black hot-stepper Sitiveni Sivivatu in one of his two England appearances.

Can he remember playing with or against anyone like Cokanasiga?

"I played against Alessana Tuilagi a lot. He was a big physical carrier, but he would likely run straight at you," Ojo said.

"Then there are guys like Sinoti Sinoti who have a vicious step, but not that offload threat - whereas Joe offloads like Leone Nakarawa.

"That was the thing that stood out of me when I first saw him. He could carry the ball so easily in one hand - that was not something that you would teach to kids and it gave him an extra threat.

"You can't go low because he will just offload. if you go high, it is really difficult to get near the ball. It is a very different threat from that which you usually face.

"Growing up outside the system helped him, gave him the ability to do something different. I can't think of anyone who has all those threats in one package."

With Jonny May and Anthony Watson established as first-choice options and Jack Nowell available once more to head coach Eddie Jones, Cokanasiga's opportunities may be limited at this World Cup.

But if England are up against it and need a game-breaker, he could dance on the World Cup stage once more.

England's final World Cup group match against France and Formula 1 qualifying could both be affected by the powerful typhoon that is due to hit Japan on Saturday after it changed course.

BBC weather presenter Simon King says Typhoon Hagibis is now expected to hit further north, on the island of Honshu.

Ireland's game with Samoa on Saturday in Fukuoka on the southern island of Kyushu is expected to be spared.

But Scotland v Japan in Yokohoma and the F1 race on Sunday could be hit.

Honshu, Japan's main island, is home to both Yokohoma and the Suzuka F1 circuit.

On Monday the forecast had predicted the typhoon would hit Kyushu.

World Rugby insists it has a "robust contingency plan in place" should the adverse weather impact tournament fixtures.

However, any games cancelled at the World Cup because of the weather are registered as scoreless draws.

Scotland need to beat Japan to stand any chance of reaching the last eight, while a victory sends Ireland into the last eight.

England are already through to the quarter-finals and will top the group with victory over France.

Analysis

BBC Weather Simon King

With October being in the typhoon season in Japan, the forecast for a typhoon to hit the island this weekend won't come as a great surprise. However, with the eyes of the world currently on Japan with thousands of tourists travelling around the country for the rugby World Cup and the Japanese Grand Prix, the thought of an incoming typhoon maybe rather worrying.

On Monday, typhoon Hagibis underwent rapid intensification - one of the quickest in the record book - to become a violent Typhoon, equivalent of a category 5 hurricane. It is one of the most powerful tropical cyclones this year joining the likes of hurricane Dorian and Lorenzo.

It's a huge storm covering hundreds of kilometres away from its centre with sustained wind speeds on Tuesday morning of 120mph and gusts up to 170mph. Over the coming days Hagibis will start to weaken but according to the Joint Typhoon Warning centre its predicted track is north towards the south coast of Japan. While the forecast track can still change, the Japanese Meteorological Service expect Hagibis to be categorized as a 'very strong' typhoon at landfall in Honshu on Saturday.

The impacts of Hagibis will be felt over a large area of Japan with strong winds and flooding rain expected. There's an increasing likelihood of some damage and certainly travel disruption as authorities prepare for the arrival of the typhoon.

LAS VEGAS – A celebration honoring off-road racing legend Rod Hall will serve as the kickoff to the annual SEMA Show on Nov. 4 inside the Westgate Hotel at the Westgate Paradise Event Center.

Hall began competing in off-road racing in the early 1950’s when organized off-road competition was just beginning. In 1967 he won the inaugural NORRA Mexican 1,000 Rally (the race now known as the SCORE International Baja 1,000) and competed in every Baja 1,000 throughout the race’s first 50 years – all in a four-wheeled vehicle.

Known as the “Everyman’s Hero,” Hall remains the only driver to win Baja overall in a four-wheel-drive vehicle. He accumulated more than 160 major event wins and more than a dozen SCORE/HDRA & Best in the Desert championships.

The event, which will be open to the public, will allow race fans to meet the Hall family, who have continue Hall’s legacy of off-road racing through three generations.

The celebration will include some of the most iconic vehicles Hall raced, including the legendary Bronco that won the 1967 Baja 1,000 overall, as well as an unparalleled collection of off-road racing paraphernalia.

Guests scheduled to appear include Sal Fish, Mint 400 CEO Matt Martelli, Parnelli Jones and more.

The event will run from 7 to 10 p.m. inside the Westgate Hotel at the Westgate Paradise Event Center. Hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served. Click here for more information.