Kohli, Rahane tons lead India fightback on Day 3

December 28, 2014

Virat Kohli

Melbourne, Dec 28: Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane struck fluent centuries and stitched a record 262-run fourth-wicket partnership as India fought back bravely before a late-order slide allowed a sloppy Australia to claw back in the third cricket Test, here today.

Resuming the day on 108 for one in response to the hosts' first innings score of 530, India lost their overnight batsmen early but Kohli (169), registering his third ton in this series, and Rahane (147) made sure that their stand is the highest for India in Australia at the MCG for any wicket.

The visitors ended the day on 462 for eight as they still trail by 68 runs at the end of Day 3.

Aided by five dropped catches, India responded well only to lose a bit of a momentum in the end as new-ball bowler Ryan Harris returned with figures of 4-69.

Pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson (1-133), who bled runs through the day, also got Kohli caught behind to get a consolation wicket as umpires called stumps.

Getting into heated exchanges with Johnson at different stages of his innings, Kohli was dropped on 88 by Shane Watson (1-65) at first slip in the 85th over and made full use of the spill.

Kohli, recording his ninth Test ton, mixed the right dose of caution and aggression in his 272-ball stay, his innings laced with 18 boundaries.

Rahane, who got his century in just 127 balls, hitting 21 fours in his three-hours ten minute stay in the middle.

Rahane was finally trapped lbw off Lyon but not after maintaining a strike rate of 85.96.

Rahane's wicket opened up the gates for the host, who struck back with four wickets for 53 runs in the final session of play.

Debutant Lokesh Rahul (3) failed to capitalise on a dropped chance at mid-wicket off Lyon only to play another similar stroke against the off-spinner on the very next delivery as the ball took a top adge and settled into the hands of Josh Hazlewood (0-75) at fine leg.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (11) fiddled around for sometime but his tentative approach from the very start cost him his wicket after Harris got the wicketkeeper-batsman caught behind.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the next as part of the mini-procession and the No.8 batsman could only face four balls before being caught and bowled off Harris for a nought.

Harris was supported by Lyon (2-108) and Watson. The bowlers gave away far too many runs but were disciplined in the sense that they conceded just 2 extra in the innings so far.

Post-tea, the two batsmen had looked to increase their 189-run stand and did so quite well. They crossed the 200-run partnership mark in the 99th over of the innings, becoming the first batting pair ever to put on a 200-standd for the 4th wicket at the MCG.

Then they scored the next fifty at brisk pace, the 250-stand coming in the 106th over with the 400-mark coming the next over. India were scoring at more than six runs per over in that passage of play.

But things changed soon in the 108th over when Lyon trapped Rahane lbw to trigger a late-order collapse. Rahul was a bag of nerves and was dropped by substitute fielder Peter Siddle at mid-wicket in the 110th over.

But the youngster played a horrendous sweep shot to on the very next ball get a top-edge and get caught at fine leg.

Harris returned to account for Dhoni and Ashwin (0) as India went from 409/4 to 434/7. Meanwhile, Kohli stayed solid and crossed the 150-run mark in his Test career for the first time. He was out just before stumps, putting up 28 runs for the eighth wicket with Shami.

Earlier, Kohli and Rahane built on their 77-run platform they had laid in the morning. The latter had been more aggressive of the two batsmen and he continued in the same vein. He got to his half-century in the 71st over, off 60 balls, and two overs later brought up the 100-run partnership between them.

India crossed the 250-mark in the 74th over and were nearing the follow-on mark when things got a bit frantic in the middle. First, Lyon dropped Rahane (70 not out) in the 80th over, completely missing a simple return catch.

Then as the second new ball was taken, Johnson hit Kohli with a return throw. The batsman had an angry go at him and then lost his composure. In the 85th over he edged behind off the same bowler and was dropped by Watson at first slip.

Kohli then top-edged one off Johnson in the following over only for keeper Brad Haddin not being able to reach the ball.

Things settled down as their 150-run partnership came up in the 87th over and from thereon, it was all about the milestones. Rahane was the first to get to his triple-figures, reaching his 3rd Test century in the 90th over, off 127 balls.

It is his 3rd overseas Test hundred this year. Then, four overs later, Kohli got to his 9th Test hundred – his 4th in Australia – as the duo closed out the session with 112 runs without losing a wicket.

Earlier in the day, Cheteshwar Pujara (25) did not trouble the scorers as the No.3 batsman was out on the second ball of the day as Harris induced an outside edge and the catch was beautifully held Haddin in front of first slip.

Opener Murali Vijay (68) did add a few runs to his score and hit a couple of lovely boundaries before he got hit on the back of the helmet off a Johnson snorter.

The hit sure did shake him up as he was soon picked by Watson, edging one to first slip as Shaun Marsh made no mistake.

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Agencies
July 21,2020

New Delhi, Jul 21: With the T20 World Cup's postponement clearing the decks for a full-fledged IPL, the glitzy event's Governing Council will meet in a week or 10 days' time to plan its next course of action, eyeing UAE as the host this year.

An IPL between September and early November has been made possible by the ICC's decision on Monday to postpone the T20 World Cup in Australia, scheduled for October-November, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The IPL GC will meet within a week or 10 days and all decisions (including final schedule) will be taken there. As of now, the plan is to have a full fledged IPL comprising 60 games and most likely in the UAE," Patel told PTI.

Asked about the main challenges in conducting the event in current scenario, Patel added: "Just the operational side of it. Whether you do it here or outside, it doesn't matter (with no crowds)."

The franchisees had already been working on their plans for the IPL even before the ICC announcement.

With majority of the Indian players not having access to grounds amid the pandemic, teams will need at least three to four weeks to get them match ready.

Foreign players will fly in directly to the UAE from their respective countries.

"Our players will need at least three to four weeks of training, if not more. We will finalise all our plans once the BCCI announces the dates. It looks like the IPL will be in the UAE and we are ready for that," a team owner told PTI.

Since India tour Australia for a four-Test series right after the IPL, training of the Test players is also an important issue.

Test specialists like Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari, who are not part of the IPL, are likely to train for the eagerly-awaited series in a bio-secure environment at the newly-renovated Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad during the time of the IPL.

A few fringe players are expected to join them at Motera along with the Indian team's support staff, which is free during the IPL.

Work from home has become the norm amid the pandemic, therefore, there is a possibility that IPL commentary will happen from the comfort of the living room, a safer and cost effective-option considering the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, who is 71, are involved.

The viewership is expected to be a record one with people craving for live cricket, something KXIP co-owner Ness Wadia has said.

However, it remains to be seen how much the broadcasters and teams are able to attract from the sponsors in the current financial climate.

More moot points and questions ahead of the IPL GC meeting:

1) More double headers expected (original schedule had only five double headers).

2) BCCI will need to provide a Standard Operating Procedure to IPL teams even though they will have their own SOPs in place.

3) Will the BCCI compensate teams for not being able to generate gate money this year?

4) Will there be virtual commentary from Star Sports? It was seen in the recent 3TC event in South Africa with the likes of Aakash Chopra, Deep Dasgupta and Irfan Pathan commentating from home.

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: On the first day of the New Year 2020, Hardik Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share a photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The 26-year-old shared three pictures and a short clip on the social media platform. In one photo, Stankovic can be seen flaunting her ring.

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show 'Bigg Boss 8'.

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Agencies
January 6,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 6: 'The Irishman,' and 'Two Popes' were shut out from the winners list despite getting multiple nominations, the movies didn't win a single award at the Golden Globes Award held on Sunday (local time). Other movies in the list include 'Bombshell,' 'Dolemite Is My Name,' 'Harriet,' 'Jojo Rabbit,' 'Knives Out' and 'Little Women.'

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 'The Irishman' may have gone into the 2020 Golden Globes with the second-highest number of film nominations, tied with 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' with five nods, but Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated mob epic for Netflix was completely shut out at the award ceremony.

Netflix landed the most film nominations of any company with 17 mentions, but it won only one award which is the best-supporting actress for 'Marriage Story's' Laura Dern. Netflix's nominated films 'Dolemite Is My Name' and 'The Two Popes' was tied with 'Joker' with four mentions each and failed to grab any awards.

'Dolemite Is My Name' star Eddie Murphy was expected by a number of pundits to win for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy.

'Bombshell', 'Harriet',' Frozen 2', 'Jojo Rabbit', 'Knives Out', 'The Lion King', 'Little Women' and 'Pain and Glory' are among the other films that received multiple nominations but didn't win a single award.

On the TV side, Netflix's 'Unbelievable' tied in the race to most small-screen nominations with 'Chernobyl' and 'The Crown' with four nominations, and 'The Crown' won only one award, for star Olivia Colman.

The three-time nominees 'Barry', 'Big Little Lies', 'The Kominsky Method' and 'The Morning Show' also didn't grab any award. 'Catch-22', 'Killing Eve', 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' and 'The Politician' who were two-time nominees that were also iced out.

'Hustlers' star Jennifer Lopez failed to take home the best-supporting actress award as she was predicted to win the award by a number of pundits. Billy porter also failed to make history with the best drama actor win for his role on 'Pose,' if he would've won the award, he reportedly would have been the first openly gay African-American to win that award.

'Chernobyl' won two of its four nominations. Despite that, star Jared Harris didn't win the best actor in a limited series Globe which was predicted by many prognosticators. The award was bagged by Russell Crowe for his portrayal of Roger Ailes in 'The Loudest Voice.' But the star was absent from the ceremony.

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