India Ends South Africa Test Series With Dramatic 63-Run Win

Agencies
January 28, 2018

Johannesburg, Jan 28: India salvaged lost pride by pulling off a dramatic 63-run win against South Africa in the third test match as relentless pacers scripted a sensational turnaround on a treacherous track, in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Mohammed Shami led India's fightback with a career-best five-wicket haul as India snapped nine wickets for 53 runs to shot out South Africa for 177 and avoided a humiliating whitewash in the three-match series.

Overall, the four full-time seamers shared all 20 wickets in the match, which ended on the fourth day.

Shami ended with figures of 12.3-2-28-5, while Jasprit Bumrah (2/57), Ishant Sharma (2/31) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/39) shared the other five wickets.

It was their second victory in five Tests with the other three being draws.

South African opener Dean Elgar, who took a nasty blow on his helmet and forced early stumps yesterday, remained unbeaten on 86 even as four of his colleagues could not even open their account.

India skipper Virat Kohli was under pressure to deliver after losing the first two Tests following a stellar home run last year. South Africa won the series 2-1 but India ended it on a high.

The pitch remained a talking point throughout for the dangerous bounce it offered to pacers and forced early stumps on day three. Surprisingly when India were expected to dominate the proceedings at the start of the day, the batsmen found it easy to score this morning.

South African downfall began post tea as Faf du Plessis (2) was bowed in the fourth over after resumption of play. He missed an in-swinger from Ishant Sharma and it cut through the gap between bat and pad.

The heavy roller’s effect – used in the morning – wore off quite quickly as the pitch started doing a lot more in this last session. Three overs later, in the 64th, Bumrah trapped Quinton de Kock plumb lbw for a first-ball duck.

Running out of time, and patience, Vernon Philander (10) tried attacking the bowling just as Shami returned for a spell with the old ball. He was bowled as the ball clattered onto the stumps off an inside edge.

Shami then tore through the lower order, bowling Andile Phehlukwayo for a three-ball duck and Morne Morkel (0) first ball.

In between Kumar had Kagiso Rabada caught at slip for another three-ball duck as South Africa went from 144/3 to 160/8 in the space of 47 balls.

There were a few comic elements as Hardik Pandya missed two run-outs, but the formalities were completed in the 74th over as Lungi Ngidi (4) was caught behind with the Indian players breaking into a celebratory jig.

Meanwhile, Parthiv Patel did not come out to keep wickets in this final session. He had suffered an injured right index finger and is scheduled to go for an x-ray in the evening.

Dinesh Karthik came on as substitute keeper.

This was after Elgar and Hashim Amla (52) added 119 runs for the second wicket to take South Africa to 136/3 at tea.

Post lunch, Elgar and Amla continued building their stand even as India looked to make quick in-roads to gain footing back in the match.

The visitors were denied as the duo batted calmly and took South Africa past the 100-mark. Ishant bowled a tight spell after lunch, but India struggled to string together a bowling partnership that could put Elgar-Amla under pressure.

Soon after, they raised a 100-run stand, the first in this Test. In doing so, Elgar reached his 10th Test half- century off 153 balls.

At the other end, Amla crossed 50 off 134 balls, his 38th in Test cricket. It was also the ninth time that he scored twin half-centuries in the same Test.

Hardik Pandya (0-15) was also introduced into the attack in the second hour of play as India desperately searched for a breakthrough.

It finally came, as Amla chipped Ishant straight to midwicket and was out caught, much in the same manner as the first innings.

Overall, Amla and Elgar added 119 runs off 304 balls for the second wicket. India made it a double blow as three overs later, AB de Villiers (6) was caught at gully off Bumrah to give India a glimmer of hope.

This was after Elgar and Amla had taken South Africa to 69/1 at lunch. Play was delayed due to heavy morning rains in Johannesburg. The team arrived on schedule at the Wanderers but had to wait for better conditions for play to resume.

Starting from their overnight score of 17 for one, South Africa made steady progress. Elgar encountered a couple of hairy moments once again, against Bumrah in particular, but settled down shortly enough.

He shrugged off whatever happened last evening and looked more confident as the session went on.

At the other end, Amla looked ever solid. He left the ball well and looked to score whenever the opportunity presented itself. India gave away too many quick runs early on in the session, not helped by uneven bounce.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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Agencies
February 12,2020

Mumbai, Feb 12: Former Indian greats Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin have been left disappointed by the behaviour of the Under-19 team after the World Cup final where they were involved in an altercation with their Bangladeshi counterparts.

After Bangladesh won the final beating India by three wickets (via DLS) at the Senwes Park on Sunday, the players of the two teams were seen engaging in an exchange of words and even some pushing and shoving on the field.

"I would like to see the board (BCCI) take some strict action against the players to set an example. Cricket is not about abusing the opponent. I am sure there is enough reason for these youngsters to be dealt with firmly by BCCI," Kapil was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

"I welcome aggression, nothing wrong in it. But it has to be controlled aggression. You can't cross the line of decency in the name of being competitive. I would say it was unacceptable that youngsters put up such an obnoxious display on the cricket field," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has sanctioned five players, including three from Bangladesh -- Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan --and two from India --Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi for the scuffle.

Azharuddin also reiterated what Kapil said, insisting that players need to be disciplined.

"I would take action against the errant Under 19 players, but I also want to know what role has the support staff played in educating these youngsters. Act now before it is too late. The players have to be disciplined," Azharuddin said.

Earlier, Bishan Singh Bedi has lashed out at the Priyam Garg-led team, saying their behaviour was disgusting and disgraceful.

"You bat, bowl and field badly�happens, but there's no excuse for behaving badly. The behaviour was disgusting and most disgraceful. The innocence of that age was not visible at all," Bedi told Mid Day.

Bedi, who represented India in 67 Tests and 10 ODIs, said the behaviour of the Bangladesh cricketers is not our problem.

"Look, what Bangladesh do is their problem, what our boys do is our problem. You could see that there was abusive language used," he said.

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News Network
March 23,2020

Colombo, Mar 23: Sri Lankan batting great Kumar Sangakkara has said he is currently in self-quarantine, following his government's guidelines for those recently returning from Europe, which has now become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authorities are concerned over people returning from the most-affected COVID-19 countries in Europe not registering with the police and practising isolation.

"I have no symptoms or anything like that, but I'm following government guidelines," Sangakkara told News First.

"I arrived from London over a week ago and the first thing was there was a news bulletin saying that anyone who had travelled from within March 1 to 15 should register themselves with the police and undergo self-quarantine. I registered myself with the police."

The former captain said this even as the government confirmed there have been at least three cases of recent returnees attempting to hide the novel coronavirus symptoms from authorities.

Both Sangakkara and his former teammate Mahela Jayawardene have been active on social media, urging Sri Lankans to avoid panic and to exercise proper social distancing, as the country went into curfew on Friday evening.

Sri Lanka has so far reported more than 80 active COVID-19 positive cases in the country.

Across the world, the number of infected has crossed three lakh besides a death toll of more than 14,000 people.

Meanwhile, former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has also gone into a two-week isolation after returning from the United Kingdom.

Gillespie, who is the head coach at Sussex, had been in Cape Town with the team for a pre-season tour, which was cut short as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

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