Pujara boosts India with comeback ton against NZ

August 24, 2012

PoojaraCheteshwar Pujara celebrated his comeback with a maiden century to help India post 307-5 on opening day of the first Test against New Zealand in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The 24-year-old, who played his last Test in January 2011, cracked a solid 119 not out in India’s first match after the retirement of veterans Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.

India were under pressure at 125-3 after losing experienced Virender Sehwag (47), Gautam Gambhir (22) and Sachin Tendulkar (19), but Pujara and Virat Kohli (58) propped up the innings with a 125-run stand for the fourth wicket. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was unbeaten on 29 at stumps.

Pujara, who replaced Dravid at number three, looked comfortable against both pace and spin during his 226-ball knock which contained one six and 15 fours.

“I am really happy. I wanted to score a hundred in my debut Test but I missed it, so I am really satisfied that I got my maiden hundred now. I knew I could bat at number three and my preparation was up to the mark,” said Pujara.

“I don’t think I can replace Rahul Dravid because he is such a legend. He has scored more than 10,000 runs in both the formats. It’s impossible to replace him. I just wanted to play my natural game.”

Pujara played some aggressive shots after completing his half-century, hitting left-arm paceman Trent Boult for three fours in an over and smashing part-time spinner Kane Williamson over wide long-on for the first six of the match.

Pujara, playing only his fourth Test, reached his hundred with a single to fine-leg off paceman James Franklin, much to the delight of nearly 15,000 spectators.

The 23-year-old Kohli, playing his ninth Test, cracked eight fours in his fourth Test half-century before falling to a poor shot, caught at second slip by Martin Guptill while trying to cut paceman Chris Martin.


He gave a chance on 46 when he edged off-spinner Jeetan Patel, but lone-slip Ross Taylor failed to hold on to it. It went for a four, helping the Indian to reach his half-century.

India lost one more wicket when Suresh Raina, who replaced Laxman in the middle order, was caught behind off Patel after making three.

Boult had Gambhir caught behind and then got a big wicket when he bowled Tendulkar, who was playing his first Test after becoming a member of parliament.


Tendulkar could only add seven more runs to his lunch score of 12 before he was surprised by a Boult delivery that came in sharply. He hit just two fours in his slow 62-ball innings.

The world’s leading scorer in both Tests and one-dayers with an unprecedented 100 international centuries, the 39-year-old Tendulkar was in April nominated to the upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha, for his contribution to the nation.

“It was special to get Tendulkar out. It was obviously a prize wicket and it is something I will always remember,” said Boult.

“The game is still balanced. The first hour tomorrow morning will be a big opportunity to go at the batsmen and get a couple of wickets.”

Fast bowler Doug Bracewell was the other wicket-taker, having free-scoring opener Sehwag caught by Guptill at second slip.

New Zealand earlier did not allow India to build a big partnership on a good batting track, removing both the openers in the morning and then dismissing Tendulkar in the afternoon.

India put on 49 for the opening wicket after winning the toss when Boult dismissed Gambhir in the 10th over.

Sehwag cracked nine fours in his brisk 41-ball knock before he fell to a loose shot, caught in the slips while attempting to cut Bracewell.

He was lucky to survive in Bracewell’s previous over when his edge went between wicket-keeper Kruger van Wyk and first-slip Taylor for a four. He hit two more boundaries in the same over.

Score Board

India won toss

India 1st innings

G Gambhir c van Wyk b Boult 22

V Sehwag c Guptill b Bracewell 47

C A Pujara not out 119

S R Tendulkar b Boult 19

V Kohli c Guptill b Martin 58

S K Raina c van Wyk b Patel 3

*†M S Dhoni not out 29

Extras (b 6, lb 3, w 1) 10

Total (5 wickets; 87 overs) 307

To bat: R Ashwin, Z Khan, P P Ojha, U T Yadav

Fall: 1-49, 2-77, 3-125, 4-250, 5-260

Bowling: Martin 18-2-60-1; Boult 16-2-63-2; Bracewell 10.4-1-53-1; Franklin 11.2-0-33-0 (1w); Patel 24-6-58-1; Williamson 7-0-31-0

New Zealand team

M J Guptill, B B McCullum, D R Flynn, *L R P L Taylor, K S Williamson, J E C Franklin, †C FK van Wyk, D A J Bracewell, J S Patel, C S Martin, T A Boult

Umpires: S J Davis (Australia) and I J Gould (England). Match referee: B C Broad (England). Reserve umpire: C Shamsuddin



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Agencies
January 5,2020

Mumbai, Jan 5: India captain Virat Kohli has refrained from making any comments on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), without gaining full knowledge on the sensitive subject.

The CAA will grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12, even if they don't possess any proper document.

In 2016, Kohli had termed demonetisation as the "greatest move in history of Indian politics", which met with sharp criticism from a lot of quarters, with people questioning his knowledge on the subject.

With Guwahati witnessing massive protests against the CAA till some days back, Kohli was asked about it and the Indian skipper weighed his words carefully.

"On the issue, I do not want to be irresponsible and speak on something that has, you know, radical opinions both sides. I need to have total information, total knowledge of what it means and what is going on and then be responsible to give my opinion on it," Kohli said ahead of India's first T20 International against Sri Lanka.

The skipper made it clear that he will not like to get embroiled in a controversy by commenting on a subject that he is not well aware of.

"Because you can say one thing and then someone can say another thing. So, I would not like to get involved in something that I don't have total knowledge of and it's not going to be responsible on my part to comment on it." However Kohli on his part was happy with the security arrangements and felt that the city is "absolutely safe".

"The city is absolutely safe. We didn't see any problems on the roads," Kohli said, giving his thumbs-up for the match at the Barsapara Stadium.

The Assam Cricket Association is using this match as a "curtain-raiser" ahead of their maiden IPL match this season as Rajasthan Royals have adopted this venue.

There has been deployment of Rapid Action Force for the teams and ACA secretary Devajit Saikia has said the spectators will not even be allowed to bring along handkerchiefs and towels on the match-day as the traditional Assamese scarf was used for protests against CAA.

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News Network
March 31,2020

New Delhi, Mar 31: Australia batsman David Warner on Tuesday decided to shave off his head to show support towards all those people who are working relentlessly on the frontline in the battle against coronavirus.

After shaving off his head, Warner also challenged his Australian team-mate Steve Smith and India skipper Virat Kohli to do the same.

Warner, shared a time-lapse video on Instagram, of him shaving his head, and captioned the post as: "Been nominated to shave my head in support of those working on the frontline #Covid-19 here is a time-lapse. I think my debut was the last time I recall I've done this. Like it or not".

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia's death toll stands at 19, as per the Sydney Morning Herald.

As of 8 am today, 4460 people across Australia have tested positive for COVID-19.

The World Health Organisation had termed coronavirus as a 'pandemic' on March 11.

Earlier in the day, Australia Test skipper Tim Paine also confirmed that the side's tour of Bangladesh is unlikely due to the virus spread.
"You don't have to be Einstein to realise (the Bangladesh tour) is probably unlikely to go ahead, particularly in June. Whether it's cancelled or pushed back, we're not quite sure at the moment," cricket.com.au quoted Paine as saying.

Currently, Australia has 296 points in the WTC from 10 matches, while India has 360 points from nine matches.

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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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