Jasprit Bumrah rips through Australia, India on top despite 2nd innings collapse

Agencies
December 28, 2018

Melbourne, Dec 28: Pacer Jasprit Bumrah had Australia's batsmen tied up in knots with his immaculate line and length, giving India the decisive advantage that withstood a second innings batting collapse in the third cricket Test here Friday.

Called a "genius" on air by Australia's former captain Michael Clarke, Bumrah's career-best figures of 6/33 in 15.5 overs also made him the first bowler from the subcontinent to take a five-for or more in South Africa, England and Australia in the same year.

At the end of day three, India, after bowling out Australia for 151 in response to their first innings total of 443/7 declared, took a 346-run lead. The visitors were struggling at 54/5 in 27 overs in their second essay but had the upper-hand.

Debutant Mayank Agarwal (28 batting), who scored an impressive 76 in the first innings, and Rishabh Pant (6) were at the crease after 15 wickets fell in all on an exciting day.

In their second innings, India were jolted by Pat Cummins (4-10), who took four wickets for two runs in the space of 19 balls, including Virat Kohli (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (0) caught off successive balls.

Rohit Sharma (5) prevented his hat-trick, but fell before end of play.

This was after Bumrah's outstanding effort handed India a 292-run lead.

Bumrah returned second-best figures for an Indian bowler in Australia after Kapil Dev's 8-106 at Adelaide in 1985. But he surpassed B Chandresekhar's twin hauls of 6-52 in each innings at this ground in 1977.

Post tea, Australia's innings lasted for only four overs as Bumrah quickly cleaned up the worrisome tail. First he got rid of Tim Paine (22) caught behind, and then trapped Nathan Lyon (0) lbw.

Three balls later, he bowled Josh Hazlewood (0) as India took a hefty lead. Kohli though decided not to enforce the follow-on and the Indian mini-collapse followed thereafter.

Cummins bounced out Hanuma Vihari (13) for the second time in this Test, while Cheteshwar Pujara (0) was caught at short square leg for a duck following his hundred in the first innings.

India were reduced to 32-4 with a double break against Kohli and Rahane. Rohit Sharma was caught at slip off Josh Hazlewood (1-13) as India finished five-down but still in control of the game.

Earlier, Australia sunk to 145-7 at tea. Post lunch, it took only four overs for Bumrah to strike again as he bowled Travis Head (20), playing on in the 37th over.

Australia were in dire straits at 92-5 and things didn't improve when Ravindra Jadeja (2-45) struck for a second time against Mitchell Marsh (9). The batsman tried an exaggerated onside flick, but ended up edging to slip as the ball exploded off the pitch.

The hosts managed to cross 100 in the 41st over, but were struggling at 102-6. The next pair then batted with more patience and cut down on attacking strokes for the next hour.

In doing so, Paine and Pat Cummins (17) added 36 runs for the seventh wicket and added some respectability to the total amid the ruins. To India's credit, they never relented the bowling pressure and executed their plans to near perfection.

It could have been different, but Cummins was dropped on 2 by keeper Rishabh Pant off Hanuma Vihari in the 50th over.

Just when it appeared that Australia might avoid another dismissal, Mohammed Shami (1-27) got into the attack and bowled him to give India the advantage again.

The visitors struck four blows in the morning session as Australia were reduced to 89-4 at lunch.

Starting from overnight 8-0, Australia were under the pump early on as Ishant Sharma (1-41) and Bumrah gave them no room for maneuvering.

It didn't help that the Australian openers came out playing their shots and this attacking instinct went in India's favour.

Ishant struck in the fifth over of the morning as Mayank Agarwal scooped up a sharp catch at short mid-wicket to send back Aaron Finch (8). The fielder was stationed there for any aerial shot and the plan worked to get an early breakthrough.

Four overs later, Marcus Harris (22) went for an uncontrolled pull and found the fine leg fielder as Bumrah celebrated his first wicket of the day.

India used the scoreboard pressure to good effect as Jadeja came on to bowl with close-in fielders all around the bat. Usman Khawaja (21) fell to this ploy, caught at short leg, as Australia slipped further to 53-3 in the 20th over.

Shaun Marsh (19) and Head then added 36 runs for the fourth wicket and brought some semblance of stability to the Australian innings. They used good footwork against Jadeja to smother the possibility of turn from the rough.

But Bumrah came up with an inspirational yorker at the stroke of lunch, and the slow dipping delivery caught Shaun Marsh plumb in front of the wicket, as Australia's top-order was completely blown away on this third morning.

The four-match series is level at 1-1, after India won the first Test in Adelaide by 31 runs and Australia won the second Test in Perth by 146 runs.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Milan, Mar 28: Juventus star Paulo Dybala revealed how he "struggled to breathe" after contracting coronavirus which has killed over 9,000 people in Italy.

The Argentine international announced last Saturday he was one of three Juventus players to catch the virus along with Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi, who both had no symptoms.

"I feel better now after some strong symptoms," the 26-year-old Dybala told JTV channel.

"A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe.

"Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much.

"I gasped for air and as a result I couldn't do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt.

"Now I'm fine. My fiancee Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms."

Dybala has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, including in league leader's Juventus's last game against Inter Milan before Serie A and all sport in Italy was suspended.

"The goal against Inter was the greatest emotion, (Aaron) Ramsey provided the perfect assist - it's a pity that there was no public," added Dybala.

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News Network
May 25,2020

Karachi, May 25: Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq believes Babar Azam is destined to be a world-class player and is very close to being in the same league as India skipper Virat Kohli and Australia's Steve Smith.

"I don't like comparisons but Babar is currently very close to being in the same class as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Joe Root," Misbah said in an interview to Youtube channel, Cricket Baaz.

"He believes in the work ethic that if you want to better Kohli you have to work harder than him at your skills, fitness and game awareness."

The 25-year-old, who was named captain of the Pakistan T20 team ahead of the Australia series in October last year, was recently handed the reins of ODI team as well.

"Making him the T20 captain was a tester. We wanted to see how he will respond to this challenge. All of us agree that he has done a very good job and his biggest plus is that being among the worlds top players he leads by example," Misbah said.

"If you are a performer like Babar then it becomes easier for you to motivate the rest of the team and get things done.

"Even when I was made captain in 2010 my performances were here and there and I was in and out. But captaincy changed my game and mindset and I became a more hard-working and motivated cricketer."

Misbah said Babar always challenges himself and would get better as a captain with experience.

"He is in a zone of his own. He just doesn't want to be in the team. He just doesn't want to play for money. He wants to be the top performer for Pakistan. He is always pitting himself against other top batsmen like Kohli or Smith," he said.

"He loves challenges in the nets and on the field. He has really matured as a player and in time he will get better as a captain with experience."

Babar was the leading run-scorer of the T20I series against Australia last year. He also scored 210 runs, which included a hundred, at 52.50 in the Test series against the same opponents.

In the two-Test home series against Sri Lanka, Babar ended the series with 262 runs with an average of exactly 262.

Misbah feels Babar had changed as a batsman when he got runs in the Tests in Australia.

"Before that he was getting runs in tests but not consistently. In Australia and in the following tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he changed," he said.

Talking about his experience as a head coach, Misbah said: "Having captained, it has helped me a lot. As captain I had to manage everything and also having played under top coaches ... I have seen closely their work ethics and how they managed things.

"It is a learning process. Having remained captain it is a big advantage for coaching because you know the players and their mood swings. You know which player will respond in a given situation,which player is feeling pressure in a scenario.

Misbah said it is not easy juggling between different roles.

"Most important thing as a coach is mentally and psychologically how you handle a group of players," the former skipper said.

"Sometimes captain and coach is different as you have to take tough decisions. Being chief selector makes it it a bit difficult but I had experience of creating and managing teams, I have been building teams since 2003. Till now it is going well."

Misbah feels in Pakistan cricket there were different parameters for judging foreign and local coaches.

"I don't know why it is like this why do we have different eye for locals and foreigners. Maybe we feel they have something special. It looks like every decision by a foreign coach is right. In contrast we tend to be very critical of local coaches no matter what decision they take," he said.

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News Network
January 20,2020

Jan 20: Both Steve Smith and Rohit Sharma made sparkling centuries in Bengaluru, but it was the Indian who finished on the winning side, leading his team to a 2-1 series win.

Smith, having run out his captain Aaron Finch early on, dug in to bring up his ninth ODI century, his 131 off 132 balls setting India a target of 287 on Sunday, 19 January. Continuing the dazzling display of batting at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, Rohit struck 119 in 128 balls, and skipper Virat Kohli chipped in with 89, as the hosts chased down the target with seven wickets to spare in 47.3 overs.

With Shikhar Dhawan hurting his shoulder in the fifth over of the day and sidelined for the rest of the match, Rohit was reunited with KL Rahul – who had a chance to open the innings after coming in at No.3 and No.5 in the first two matches, while also standing in as wicket-keeper. The vice-captain was on the ball right away, dominating the scoring as India raced to 61/0 in the first 10 overs.

The introduction of spin gave Australia a vital breakthrough: Ashton Agar trapped Rahul in front on review, and although the new pair of Rohit and Kohli weren't unduly troubled, the run-rate slowed down. Josh Hazlewood, playing his first ODI in India and his first match in the format in 14 months, was especially miserly, conceding just 10 runs in his first five overs.

But, having settled in, the duo built a useful partnership of 137 and gave themselves the chance to hit out with wickets in hand. The part-time bowling of Finch and Marnus Labuschagne was punished, Rohit lapping up the short balls and sending them soaring into the stands. His century, his eighth against Australia, came with a single to third man.

Zampa finally got the breakthrough, having him caught in the deep going for another big one. But with Kohli having loosened his arms with a couple of beautiful fours off Pat Cummins to go past his half-century, India remained on course.

The skipper missed out on a hundred, but with Shreyas Iyer too clearing the ropes, there were no hurdles as India wrapped up an entertaining series win.

Earlier, the Indian bowlers struggled to find their lines after Australia chose to bat, but Australia weren't able to fully capitalise. David Warner was thrown by the movement to nick Mohammed Shami to the wicket-keeper, while Finch was caught short after Smith pulled out of a run, to leave the hosts at 46/2.

Labuschagne and Smith, though, combined for another special partnership, going at a brisk rate and showing delectable timing against spin. They had guided their side to 173 in the 32nd over when the a sharp piece of fielding from the home captain and strong bowling pulled things back.

Kohli, at cover, plucked a drive from Labuschagne soon after the batsman had reached his maiden fifty. Ravindra Jadeja had his second of the over when the experiment to send Mitchell Starc at No.5 lasted just three balls.

Alex Carey gave Smith company as he brought up a well-earned century, having fallen just short the previous game. The former skipper stepped up the scoring once he crossed three figures, a wristy helicopter six over deep square leg the highlight of his innings. But, excellent death bowling by Shami, who finished with four wickets, ensured the tourists were kept to under 300 – a total that proved below par.

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