2nd Test: Vijay, Pujara deny SA pacers as India enjoy upper hand before bad light

December 27, 2013

SA_pacersDurban, Dec 27: The light kept falling as M Vijay continued to shine. The Chennai opener has been under a bit of pressure of late, but his unbeaten innings of 91 might just act as the perfect breather.

As he closed in on his first overseas century, umpires Rod Tucker and Steve Davis said that the pace bowlers couldn't operate in such fading light. The South African skipper Graeme Smith didn't need a second invitation and took his troops out, as India finished the day at 181/1.

There were still 29 overs of play left and it could easily have got tougher for the hosts because of the way Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara (58 batting) batted and put up 140 runs for the second wicket. While Pujara was his usual composed self, starting from where he left off at Johannesburg, Vijay's innings had glimpses of the flair that he has often shown in the subcontinent.

To his advantage, the 'Indianness' of Durban seemed to have crept into its Test pitch as well. There was hardly any movement, the pace was slow, and the Indian batsmen looked well equipped to handle anything that was thrown at them.

The best thing about the Indian batsmen during these two Tests has been their desire to spend time in the middle. Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan (29) were ready to leave outside the off-stump in the first hour. Dhawan has a distinctive way of leaving balls outside off.

He always looked to play inside the line of the delivery, so the ones moving away naturally missed his outside edge. But anything that was pitched up or was close to his leg-stump was promptly dealt with.

Dhawan and Vijay played out the first hour and it seemed that both the openers are destined for more. But Morne Morkel got Dhawan to drive away from his body off the first ball after drinks and induced an edge to be caught at slips.

Morkel, who sustained an ankle injury at Wanderers, was cleared to play the match only on Thursday morning after he passed a fitness test. But he was easily South Africa's best bowler. He kept bowling short of length and extracted some bounce making it difficult for the Indian batsmen. To their credit, they didn't give it away.

Vijay grew in confidence even as he was very choosy in his shot making. But he has the gift of timing and some of the shots that he played both on the on and off-side were a real treat. Dale Steyn, who was a shadow of his real self in the first session, looked much better when he came in to bowl in the middle session. He worked up good pace, bowled a little short and asked a few tough questions to Vijay and Pujara under fading light. But the Indian duo played with soft hands and got it down to irritate the pacer.

Skipper Graeme Smith kept throwing the ball to Robin Peterson, brought in place of leggie Imran Tahir, but the left-armer could hardly make any impression. Vijay and Pujara used their feet and tucked him away for some easy runs as SA kept running out of ideas.

Smith had the option of employing spinners from both ends when the light started fading, but he didn't want to take the chance.

Ashwin dropped

The Indian team dropped offie R Ashwin and brought in left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja. "Ashwin has done nothing wrong, just that Jadeja is a very good bowler himself and is better suited for these conditions," Indian bowling coach Joe Dawes said.

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News Network
July 22,2020

Derbyshire, Jul 22: Ahead of the upcoming Test series against England, Pakistan pacer Sohail Khan has credited bowling coach Waqar Younis for teaching him how to swing the ball late.

On the third day of the practice match between Azhar Ali's Team Green and Babar Azam's Team White, the 36-year-old Khan returned figures of five for 50 in 20.1 overs which saw the former fold for 181 in the first innings before they staged a comeback on the final day to win the match by six wickets.

Prior to the practice match, Sohail had a conversation with bowling coach Waqar Younis on the art of late swing. The pacer shared how the presence of the bowling legend in the support staff helped him gear up for the four-day match.

"The conditions in England are swing conducive so every fast bowler gets the ball to move. I asked Waqar bhai to teach me how to swing the ball late. It took him only two minutes to explain it to me. It is because of his tips that I took five wickets in the first innings," Khan said in a release issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

"I am eager to learn from Waqar Bhai. I follow him wherever he goes and speak to him about the art of bowling as he has an abundance of knowledge to share. A few days back I was struggling with something while bowling, I thought of reaching out to him and even before I spoke to him about it, he said he knew what I wanted to talk to him about and he explained it to me in a minute," he added.

During Pakistan's tour of England in 2016, Sohail played a crucial role in helping Pakistan secure a 2-2 Test series draw by returning two five-wicket hauls in as many matches.

In total, he picked up 13 wickets at 25 apiece and finished as the third-best wicket-taker.

"Definitely, it is an honour for me to return to the side. I had taken two fifers here against England in 2016 and now in the practice match, I have started off with five wickets so I am feeling very good. We had been at our homes for the past four months due to coronavirus so starting off on a high feels nice," Khan said.

Prior to Sohail's five wickets, 17-year-old Naseem Shah made a big impact when he took five wickets for Team Green. The strength of Pakistan's pace attack was further established as Mohammad Abbas and Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up three wickets each providing valuable support to Naseem and Sohail respectively.
Naseem and Shaheen finished the match with six and four wickets respectively.

Shedding light on the youngsters' performances, Sohail said: "It gives me immense pleasure to see Naseem Shah. He bowls consistently at 150kph. Just like him, Shaheen Shah Afridi is another good bowler. I like both of them."

"It gave me great happiness to see Naseem pick five wickets in the first innings. He is in rhythm and is looking great. What is astonishing is that he is playing in these conditions for the first time but still he is doing so well. Shaheen has also been phenomenal," he added.

Pakistan and England are slated to play three Tests and as many T20Is against each other. The first Test will be played at Manchester from August 5.

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News Network
April 25,2020

New Delhi, Apr 25: The love and loyalty of the fans will never let him leave Royal Challengers Bangalore till the time he is playing IPL, skipper Virat Kohli said on Friday.

RCB have reached the IPL final thrice but have not gone on to win the trophy.

During a live session on Instagram with former South African captain and RCB teammate AB de Villiers, Kohli said winning the tournament remains the goal but he would not leave the team irrespective of the results.

"It has been such an amazing journey. It is always going to be our dream, winning the IPL together. There is no scenario where I could think of leaving the team ever.

"You can feel emotional about the season not going well but till the time I am playing IPL, I am never leaving this team. The fans, their loyalty has been amazing," said the India skipper.

Responding to Kohli's feelings towards RCB, De Villiers too acknowledged the support of fans over the past nine years. Kohli, on the other hand, has been with RCB since 2008.

"Same for me. I never want to leave RCB but to do that I got to keep scoring runs. I am not the captain you see," said the South African in jest.

Both recalled their early days in international cricket and their growth as cricketers and friends.

Kohli said at times, the youngsters coming in have too much regard for the "system" and he wants to see them break the norm.

"I want to see youngsters coming in scoring 500-600 runs. I want people to break the norm. Sometimes I feel people have too much regard for the system in sport. When you break the shackles, you do something special."

Kohli also acknowledged contribution of Mark Boucher, Gary Kirsten and Duncan Fletcher early on in his international career.

"Gary always gave me positive feedback. Boucher told me in 2008 to improve my game against the short ball. He had the vision. Then Fletcher, he had a keen eye for the game. So many people who have contributed (to my growth)," said Kohli.

De Villiers picked the 119 at Wankhede in the 2015 series decider as his best knock against India. Kohli picked the 119 he scored in Johannesburg Test in 2013.

"I was always really motivated to win the series after 2-2 . I was incredibly motivated to do something special," de Villiers said.

They also picked their combined South Africa and India ODI team. It included Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ab de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, M S Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Dale Steyn, Jasprit Bumrah and Kagiso Rabada.

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News Network
July 16,2020

Kolkata, Jul 16: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday went into home quarantine after his elder brother and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) joint secretary Snehasish Ganguly tested positive for Covid-19.

Snehasish, a former Bengal first-class player, has been admitted to the Belle Vue hospital in Kolkata after his COVID report came positive.

"He was suffering from fever for the last few days and his test report came positive today. He's been admitted to Belle Vue Hospital," a CAB official said.

"The reports arrived late in the evening. As per health protocols, even Sourav will have to be in home quarantine for a stipulated period," a source close to the BCCI President added.

Snehasish had shifted to their ancestral house, where Sourav is based, in Behala after his wife and in-laws at his Mominpur residence tested positive for the dreaded virus.

The former India captain was, however, unavailable for a comment on the development.

Recently, during an interview to India Today, Sourav had spoken about how life around him has changed, making people more vulnerable.

"My brother visits our factories everyday and he is more at risk," the former batting star had said

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