Nov 15: India was 188 for 3 at lunch on day two, leading Bangladesh by 38 runs in the first Test here on Friday.
Opener Mayank Agarwal was unbeaten on 91 and Ajinkya Rahane was batting on 35 at the break.
Brief Scores:
Bangladesh 1st innings: 150 all out in 58.3 overs (Mushfiqur Rahim 43; Mohammed Shami 3/27)
India 1st innings: 188 for 3 in 54 overs (Mayank Agarwal 91 not out, Cheteshwar Pujara 54; Abu Jayed 3/58).
Melbourne, Feb 11: Opener David Warner received Allan Border Medal, while all-rounder Ellyse Perry bagged Belinda Clarke medal in the 2020 Australian Cricket Awards on Monday.
Warner secured his third (2016, 2017, 2019) Allan Border Medal and Perry a trio of Belinda Clarke Awards (2016, 2018, 2019) as voted by their peers, umpires and the media across all forms and every game of international cricket in 2019.
Warner dominated the ICC World Cup with 647 runs including a highest score of 166 at an average of 71.88, including three centuries. He then rebounded from a challenging Ashes series to dominate at home in the T20I series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the Test series against Pakistan - which included his memorable innings of 335 not out in Adelaide - and the Test series against New Zealand.
Warner (194) outpolled Ashes hero Steve Smith by a single vote for the Allan Border Medal with paceman Pat Cummins, the ICC International Cricketer of the Year, third in the polling with 185 votes.
Perry enjoyed an incredible year with both bat and ball, starting with dominant Ashes performances which included an innings of 116 in the Test in Taunton and 11 wickets in the three ODIs.
Her figures of 7-22 at Canterbury were the best ODI figures by an Australian woman's player. She backed that up against the West Indies by taking 3-17 in the opening ODI and then scoring 112 not out in Antigua before finishing the year with a solid series against Sri Lanka at home. Perry (161) was a comfortable winner of her third Belinda Clarke Award from Alyssa Healy (153) and Jess Jonassen (87) taking second and third place respectively in the voting.
Breakout batsman Marnus Labuschagne's superlative Test summer and Ashes series secured him the Male Test Player of the Year. Having replaced Steve Smith as a concussion substitute in the Lord's Test, Labuschagne went on to make 353 runs at 50.42 in the Ashes.
His outstanding form continued at home with a first-up 185 against Pakistan at the Gabba and a Test high 215 against New Zealand in Sydney. He scored 347 runs at an average of 173.5 against Pakistan and 549 runs at 91.5 against New Zealand. Limited overs captain Aaron Finch (38) capped a stellar year by being voted the Men's One-Day International Player of the Year ahead of Usman Khawaja (33) and Warner (24).
Finch's year included a massive series against Pakistan in the UAE with 451 runs at 112.75, including knocks of 116, 153 not out and 90. He then dominated the World Cup with 507 runs at 50.7, including 153 against Sri Lanka and 100 against England at Lords. Warner (19) continued his magical year in the T20I game to become the Men's T20 International Player of the Year from Glenn Maxwell (16). Kane Richardson and Steve Smith (8) tied for third.
Alyssa Healy claimed top honours as the women's One-Day International Player of the Year with 39 votes ahead of Perry (33) and Jonassen (19). Healy scored a double by also claiming the women's T20 Player of the Year with 18 votes, ahead of Jonassen and Meg Lanning who were tied on 15. It was the second consecutive year that Healy has won the women's ODI and T20 Awards.
West Australian veteran Shaun Marsh was voted Men's Domestic Player of the Year with 1322 runs at 52.88 in all forms of the game, including the highest score of 214, while breakout paceman Wes Agar was named the Bradman Young Cricketer for his 41 wickets at 22.62 in the year.
Molly Strano and Tayla Vlaeminck took the prized Women's Domestic Player of the Year and Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year awards respectively.
Strano took 28 wickets in 22 games while Vlaeminck's 19 wickets for the year reinforced her enormous potential.
Former Hobart Hurricane Corrine Hall was named Community Champion for her work as an Ambassador of the Kindness Factory, grassroots cricket, and upcoming book Victress, which features 35 iconic female athletes and their stories. Each portrait is accompanied by the athlete's story, with a particular focus on how kindness impacted their journey.
The awards for international cricket are based on votes from players, umpires and the media on a 3-2-1 basis from each match. For the domestic awards, the votes are collected from all players.
Madrid, Mar 2: Real Madrid won El Clasico and might have saved their season as they ended their slump in the best way possible last night by beating Barcelona 2-0 and returning to the top of La Liga.
Vinicius Junior's deflected finish and a stoppage-time goal from Mariano Diaz decided a frenzied contest at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Madrid found new life after a Champions League defeat by Manchester City had left them on the brink of crisis.
"It's been a tough week," said Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane. "We talked about how we had an opportunity this weekend and we took it."
Victory put them one point clear at the top of the table and shifts focus back to Quique Setien's Barcelona, who were outfought and, at times, outplayed.
"The reality is we lost a lot of confidence with the ball," said Setien. "We entered a nervous spell and that's when the goal came."
Lionel Messi's rasping shot was saved by Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in the first half but it was the Argentine's opposing captain, Sergio Ramos, who was thrashing his arms in celebration after the final whistle.
His reaction was an indication of the importance of this victory, not only for the effect it has on the standings but on the dynamic of the title race, which had seemed to be switching firmly in favour of Barca.
Opportunity missed
Cristiano Ronaldo, now of Juventus, was watching from an executive box and Madrid could have done with him during a period in which they had won only one of their last five games.
Zidane said on Saturday this match would not decide who lifted the trophy in May but a Barca win and a five-point gap might well have been difficult to close.
Yet from the start Barcelona seemed keener to kill the game than win it, playing for time in the hope of keeping the contest tight, when they might have been better off attacking their opponents' fragility.
The Madrid we faced in the first half was one of the worst Madrids I have faced at the Bernabeu. I don't say it as a criticism, we also have our problems, but we've missed an opportunity.
--Gerard Pique, Barcelona defender
There was more tension than creativity in the early stages as Fede Valverde crashed into Arthur Melo before fellow Spain full-backs Dani Carvajal and Jordi Alba were both booked after a disagreement.
Madrid had the better of the play and regularly broke at speed through Vinicius down the left but constantly they failed to make the final pass, with Isco once left with his head in his hands after Marcelo opted not to pull the ball back.
Slow Barca
Barcelona's passing was slow and their lack of urgency obvious. At one point Messi bent to tie his bootlaces and re-spotted the ball before taking a corner.
But the visitors also created chances as Antoine Griezmann drove over from Alba's cutback and then Madrid had Courtois to thank for two excellent saves.
First, Arthur held off Toni Kroos to go clear but his finish was blocked by teh foot of Courtois and then the Belgian palmed away Messi's shot after he had skipped in behind Madrid's defence.
Ramos was lucky to get away with an error that allowed Nelson Semedo to break past him while Alba risked a second yellow when he checked Valverde but referee Mateu Lahoz was unmoved.
Barcelona were sloppy after half-time and Madrid should have capitalised. Instead, Isco's header beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen but not Pique on the line and Karim Benzema volleyed over after a sloppy pass from Arturo Vidal.
Vidal was replaced by Martin Braithwaite, Barca's emergency signing, and he sprinted in behind Marcelo twice in his first minute.
But Madrid remained in the ascendancy and in the 71st minute they took the lead.
Benzema came short and pointed right to encourage Vinicius to run in behind. Kroos found him and Vinicius's shot deflected off the sliding Pique to beat Ter Stegen at his near post.
The game opened up as Barcelona chased an equaliser. Marcelo celebrated when Messi's surge through was stopped by Raphael Varane. Pique headed Messi's cross over at the near post. Messi picked up a yellow card for a frustrated slide on Casemiro.
In injury time, Ter Stegen ventured up for a late free-kick but it was Madrid that struck again. Mariano sped past Semedo and finished from the angle.
New Delhi, Aug 4: Former India women's team captain Anjum Chopra firmly believes that the BCCI has a plan for women's cricket but she wants the Board to communicate its ideas more specifically.
Speaking to news agency, Chopra, who is now a successful broadcaster, said the BCCI is thinking in earnest about the progress of women's cricket.
"It's not that the BCCI is not thinking about women's cricket. I only think they need to be more specific in communication about women's cricket," Chopra said.
"I firmly believe that they must be thinking about women's cricket but the communication all this while has been very specific to men's cricket."
The latest trigger for criticism of BCCI was India's withdrawal from a tour of England in September owing to logistical issues arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chopra concedes it was "not nice" but Indian players' participation in the women's IPL, in November, will still be useful preparation for next year's ODI World Cup.
"It is heartening to see women's cricket making headlines. They should have been a part of that England tour and it did not feel nice initially but the women's IPL, irrespective of the format, will be helpful for World Cup preparations. Any form of cricket is good preparation," Chopra said.
"Missing out on a tournament is not nice, but logistically there may have been issues. And you can't send an under-prepared team."
"If you see in isolation we may have missed out on an opportunity to play in England. The more the girls play the better it is, before playing a tournament of the stature of World Cup. The assurance from the president is a very good thing."
Chopra welcomed the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI's decision to hold the women's event in the UAE alongside the IPL, which will run from September 19 to November 10. The women's IPL will coincide with the business end of the men's league.
"I am definitely happy, it's always nice to be part of any cricket anywhere across the world.
"They should have been nearing the final stages of the preparation for the World Cup by now, but because of the pandemic things did not go as planned," she added.
Chopra had a successful international career spanning over 17 years, during which she represented India in a record six World Cups and became the first woman cricketer to appear in 100 One-day Internationals.
She also felt that the pandemic would not have much impact on the women's game that has gained momentum in recent times.
"...Cricket was on pause button...Once cricket resumes and players are back on the park, everything is going to get picked up. It might take some time to get started as everything starts from zero...
"The awareness the women's game has created, I hope it stays. They will just restart, not start after the pandemic."
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